PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Plastics: Waste (19 January 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Environment Agency's visits in 2018 to all facilities which treated or reprocessed plastic waste to check they were not losing plastic fragments into surface water, how many and what proportion of such facilities were identified as losing plastic fragments into surface water.

Asked by:
Navendu Mishra (Labour)

The Environment Agency (EA) regulates a number of activities which have the potential to cause plastic waste pollution in the River Mersey. The EA is responsible for the regulation of permitted and exempt plastics recycling plants, which includes inspection and compliance checks to ensure plastics recyclers are complying with their environmental permits.

In 2018 the EA visited facilities which treated or reprocessed plastic waste and checked they were not losing plastic fragments into surface water draining into the Mersey. The EA undertook an investigation on the River Tame to identify if there were any permitted activities based on the Tame catchment with the potential to discharge micro-plastics into the watercourse.

The EA identified and inspected three sites. One of these sites was identified as having the potential to discharge plastic waste into the Tame. The EA worked with the operator to prevent waste escaping from the site and potentially causing pollution to the watercourse and the operator subsequently moved to a different area.

The EA also works nationally to reduce waste crime which helps to minimise and prevent loss of plastic waste into the environment from businesses by keeping it in the waste management system. The EA has worked with the energy sector to reduce the loss of plastic media from their cooling treatment processes. The EA has also worked with water companies to prevent plastic bio-bead loss from the wastewater processes. The EA is working with businesses and leading academics to investigate the types and quantities of plastics, including micro-plastics, entering the environment. This research will feed into plans to tackle this type of pollution at source.

Answered by:
Rebecca Pow (Conservative)
2 February 2021